Press Conference by Public Speaker Salman Yousaf Khan

Press Conference on Domestic Workers Bill, 2013

By

Salman Yousaf Khan

Advocate High Court & Ex-Candidate Member National Assembly, NA-48, Islamabad

Facebook:

-          Profile: https://www.facebook.com/lawyer.salman?fref=ts

-          Page : https://www.facebook.com/AdvocateSalmanKhanGolra

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawyerGolra

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Blog: http://salmanyousafkhan.blogspot.com

Humanity Trust: http://www.humanitytrust.net/2014/01/profile-salman-yousaf-khan-rti-activist.html

Domestic Workers

There are over 8.5 million domestic workers living in Pakistan. They have miserable lives despite the fact that they make up to 73% of total workforce in the country. There lifestyles are miserable as they live in poor economic conditions with having no rights. There is no law in the country that gives them any rights and creates liabilities accordingly.

International Labor Organization C-189

There is an international convention passed by ILO on June 16, 2011 regarding the rights of Domestic Workers. Pakistan has not ratified the convention so far despite the fact that it is a member state of ILO.

Domestic Workers Bill 2013

In the Senate of Pakistan, a private member bill by the name of Domestic Workers Act, 2013 has been filed by Senator Osman Saifullah in January 2014. The bill is under discussion in the Senate of Pakistan. It will become law once it’s passed.

Salman Yousaf Khan on Domestic Workers Bill

Salman Yousaf Khan has carefully perused the Domestic Workers Bill and wrote several articles on it. He has pointed out the gaps in the bill at several occasions. He has further given few recommendations on the bill which are highly appreciated at many forums.

He was invited by a Non-Governmental Organization to address his point of view on the Domestic Workers Bill. He explained the bill in front of Journalists from Islamabad. He pointed out that the bill is a very positive step in the legislation regarding the domestic workers in Pakistan. However, Salman Yousaf Khan being an advocate of women rights has rightly pointed out that there are following problems in the bill which should be addressed immediately:-

-          The composition of dispute resolution committee should be part of the Act.

-          The procedure to be followed by dispute resolution committee should be part of the Act.

-          Compensatory fine of up to 100,000 Rupees is too much, domestic workers are not in a position to pay that fine in case of violation.

-          The violation shall be to the contract not to the Act.

-          The maximum working hours should be 8 rather than 12.

-          The dispute resolution committee shall have the powers of a session judge while the appellate forum shall be equal to High Court. Further appeals to the decision of appellate forum shall be barred.

-          The dispute resolution committee shall be empowered to entertain all complaints. It shall have the powers to take cognizance of criminal charges also.

-          The Act shall be made in way that its practical implementation is simpler.

-          There shall be a governing body regulating the contract between employers and employees.

-          Domestic Workers may be insured so that their legatees get some benevolent fund in case of accidental death.

-          There shall be old age benefit allowance to the domestic workers in case if they are barred to work above the age of 60 years.

-          There shall be free education to the children of domestic workers as promised in article 25-A of the constitution.

-          The law must not be limited to the domestic workers that reside at the place of employer.

-          There shall be hourly wage fixed for a domestic worker in the Act rather than putting all the domestic workers in the ambit of minimum wages on monthly bases.

The session was concluded with question and answer session followed by hopes to get the law passed after removal of gaps in the times to come.

Long Live Pakistan

Pakistan Zindabad

Session Report Democracy for Youth

DEMOCRACY FOR YOUTH

Session Report

May 23, 2014 at Hotel Grand Peshawar

PEAD Foundation organized an event on Democracy from 22^nd to 24^th of May 2014 at Hotel Grand Peshawar. This report is related with the full day session conducted by Salman Yousaf Khan on 23^rd May 2014 in support with Mr. Muhammad Ahsan as co-trainer.

Trainer’s Profile

The trainer was a young lawyer, politician and social worker from Islamabad. His profiles and pages can be accessed on the following links:-

Profiles: Salman Yousaf Khan

https://www.facebook.com/lawyer.salman

https://www.facebook.com/salman.y.khan

https://www.facebook.com/AdvocateSalmanKhanGolra

Twitter

https://twitter.com/LawyerGolra

Co-Trainer’s Profile

Muhammad Ahsan

https://www.facebook.com/M.AHSANULHAQ?fref=ts

Participants

The participants were the students of KPK mostly from Peshawar, Jamrood Khyber Agency and FATA. They were aged from 18 to 25.

Reflection

Proceedings for the day were initiated by Ms. Shagufta Gul of Pead Foundation. She had the session of reflection with the students of Peshawar. In that session the trainer also had an idea about the sessions conducted on 22^nd May 2014.

Introduction

The trainer started his session at 9:30 with the introduction. He first introduced himself to the participants and then he had an interactive introduction session with the participants for few minutes.

Segments

There were two segments of the Trainer’s session. One of them was on Democracy and the other was on 

Democracy for youth.

Democracy

The trainer used multimedia projector for his session on democracy. There was a presentation with having slides on definition of democracy, explanation of the concept of democracy, types of democracy, examples of democratic countries, Islamic concept of democracy, Hazrat Umar Farooq (RZA)’s democracy, pre-amble of Pakistan’s Constitution and democracy in Pakistan. There was a Tea break at the end of session at 11:00 am till 11:15 am.

  

Activity

There was an activity after the tea break. There were four groups made among the participants. They collectively made charts on democracy explaining their ideas about the concept. The session was mentored by Mr. Salman Yousaf Khan and his co-trainer Muhammad Ahsan. Each of the participants was given opportunity to speak. The participants gave presentations in Urdu, English and Pashto as they were given liberty to use any of the language they preferred.

Lunch

There was lunch and Prayer Break from 1:00 pm to 2:20 pm. 

Democracy for Youth

After the lunch break the second segment of the topic was presented by Mr. Salman Yousaf Khan, Ex-Candidate for Member National Assembly, NA-48, Islamabad. The presentation had slides related with youth activism, the role of students in the Pakistan Movement, role of students of Jamia tul Islamia and steps to be taken for the prosperity of Pakistan.

There was a motivational video played on the life of Quaid-e-Azam in the session. The trainer asked the students about their opinion regarding Quaid-e-Azam. The students replied that “he was a good leader, we salute him”.

Another motivational video was played in this session with the song “Lazim hai k ham be dekhain gay” in the voice of Jawad Ahmad. The students showed their hope that things will change in Pakistan one day.

Ending

The Trainer Mr. Salman Yousaf Khan and his co-trainer Mr. Muhammad Ahsan thanked:

-          Pead Foundation

-          Students of KPK

For hosting such a wonderful event and for learning the concept of democracy with attention. Finally a video was played to end the session with the following words “nikal laye hein ham kashti tofan say nikal k, meray bacho iss mulk ko rakhna sambhal k”…. Contact Details were shared with best wishes from both ends... Tea was served at 4:00 pm…

Outcome

One of the outcomes of the event was that the youth looked determined to do something for Pakistan. Equality, justice, rule of law, honesty, morality, tolerance, unity, faith and discipline all came under discussion in the session. High dedication to work for Pakistan through youth activism is observed in the participants. Further it is expected that the participants will promote whatever positive they learned from the session.